Portrait of heaven

[Zoey King]

Zoey wasn't exactly inconspicuous at the best of times, she was used to the occasional bit of gaping, whether as a result of her wings, or her unusual choices of seating. She found herself really liking trees. Not too many students tended to take the higher branches, and not only had she become very adept at climbing, but she had a natural advantage in that she could sprout wings.

So here she found herself, sitting up amongst the higher branches of an old tree in the grounds, watching people going past, observing them and their behaviour. She affectionately referred to this activity as 'Teenage watch'. She didn't know why, she just found there was something captivating in watching people's normal behaviour from the high branches. Even if playing back those words in her head came back slightly creepy.

Maybe it was her artistic side shining through a little, she didn't know. She occasionally saw a face she recognised from classes. Most of the students were a fair bit younger, but some of them were actually college students who she knew, or she knew from the little events or drama bombs that went on at the academy, Zoey didn't really care for drama though, she liked people for their traits, not actions.

She leaned forwards a little on her branch as a face passed by that she had been wanting to investigate further for a while. She was quite into art, in pretty much every sense that didn't involve paint or literature in any way. "Hey there! Excuse me, are you Zoe uh..." She didn't know if she was pronouncing this right or not. "Smythe?" Obviously thinking more about her interest than the fact that she was quite high up in the tree and possibly startling, Zoey was truly a bit dense at times.

The blonde grinned out on the other girl from her branch, her legs swinging over the side slightly, she was wearing skinny jeans and a pearl white top with a fairly open back for her silvery wings to spread slightly.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

As per usual, Zoe was out with her camera, looking through the crowds. This time she happened to be humming a song that the girl she wanted for a girlfriend had sung to her. Riley's voice played through Zoe's thoughts, making it difficult to really focus on anything else. This didn't stop Zoe from idly taking a few shots with her camera, and most of the students were more or less used to it by now, even used to her. It felt strange to actually be known, and not for being some sort of lesbian boogeyman. It probably helped that Zoe was friends with Devyn and Vera, who were apparently popular, not to mention knowing at least one moderately famous music act.

Despite this, the girl had to jump as she heard her name. She looked around for a few moments, trying to figure out who had said "Zoe." It wasn't until she heard "Smythe" that Zoe realized the voice came from behind her. The photographer turned, pausing to look around, not seeing anything right away but a tree.

"It's, um, Wallerstein-Smythe, actually," she said to the air, still craning her head to try and figure out where someone was. She reached a hand up to brush back some of the loose curls that had started to fall. "There's a hyphen in there, but, um, it is quite a mouthful..." Zoe chewed her cheek, then actually considered looking up. "Oh my..."

[Zoey King]

Zoey was always amused and interested by how people reacted to unfamiliar situations, like for example, having your name called by someone you don't necessarily know from a high branch in a tree. And she had to give Zoe credit, the girl's response had been pretty cute, it just tempted Zoey to interact with the other girl more. She wondered how much more the pictures the girl had been taking would look from Zoey's own elevated perspective.

As the shyer of the two looked up at her the blonde grinned playfully down towards the other. "Hiya!" She exclaimed. "Yeaaaah, sorry I'm not amazing with names, I'll get it right next time though." The blonde chirped with a very faint Australian accent. She did so enjoy the look on people's faces when they noticed her up on a elevated perch, she enjoyed imagining what was going on in their heads.

The winged student tilted her head slightly, with a brilliant grin still plastered across her face, as if she was on the border of bursting into a laugh or a hearty chuckle. "I bet those snaps would look a whole lot different with a perspective from the sky." She chirped. Come to think of it, why had she never tried to take pictures while flying? She could boast to people or use it in pick up lines. 'Are you an angel? You look like you've come from above, and I should know' played through her head, she giggled to herself.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

The slight accent did go noticed by Zoe, who spent a few moments just blinking and taking it in. At first she almost thought that this girl had one to match hers. it didn't take more than a few more words for Zoe recognize the Australian, which, despite what many Americans might contend, didn't sound much like hers at all. She raised a hand to shyly wave, not sure what else to do, and not certain she could manage much more.

"What? Snaps? Oh, right," Zoe said, nodding and flushing. "Yes, I, ah, imagine that they would be quite different indeed, if they were taken from, from your height," she gestured up at the girl, wondering yet again at the whole winged thing. It wasn't Zoe's first winged mutant, but she still couldn't help but be jealous.

This actually struck her as being a good thing to share: "I've always been quite jealous of those of us with wings, like, er, yours," Zoe said, gesturing. "I'm, ah, well, my power's not... not as pleasant," she chewed her cheek for a few seconds. well, if the girl knew her name, then there was a fairly good chance that she knew her power too. So maybe Zoe wouldn't have to elaborate?

[Zoey King]

Zoey beamed down at the Brit. She certainly seemed to be the adorable kind of shy. Again, she didn't put much stock in rumour or second hand descriptions of people, she preferred to judge them by herself, and she reckoned she was a fairly good judge of character. She did wonder what type of person Zoe was under her shell though, it seemed to vary massively with shy people, some turned out to actually be loud and friendly around their own friends, others just turned out to be unsociable.

Not the type of girl to giggle, or force laughs, Zoey gave off a hearty chuckle. Yes, she'd heard this all before. Beauty was in the eye of the beholder didn't just apply to actual beauty, it also applied to situations and things like powers. Zoey's wasn't the most pleasent out there, true. But it also was far from the worst, and she knew that a great deal of the students at Bellefonte would probably kill for a power like hers.

"I've heard that one before. While I don't got the worst power by any stretch, it's also not super easy to live with. Eye of the beholder eh?" She winked. There were some things about having wings, and being relatively strong like the blonde though, she could show people her point of view. "Wanna see what your pictures look like from up here? I could give you a lift~" She chirped.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

"Well, I'm sure it's all grass is greener," Zoe agreed, "and I don't want to sound as if I'm trying to outsuffer you or anything but, well, mine is... worse," there were very few powers that Zoe had heard of or met that she'd actually count as being worse than her own. Just touching people became something she had to be constantly aware of people.

Which also came to that next big: "um, I know I'm light," anyone could tell that just by looking at her, "but, um, well, the power, it, ah," she gestured at herself for a moment. "You, um, I'm not--you don't want to touch me, really." Zoe flushed, uncertain as to how to properly word this. It usually came up a bit more naturally in a conversation, or someone would have recognized her and already identified the power, or she was more prepared. Then again, most people didn't volunteer to pick her up within the first few minutes of meeting her, at least, not in the literal physical sense of the word.